Bush's `New' Reply: `no Comment'

February 16, 1990|By The Washington Post

President Bush expressed irritation Thursday at persistent questions raised in recent news reports about his veracity, saying he now wants "a whole new relationship" with the news media in which his answer to most questions will be "no comment."

"From now on it's gonna be a little different," Bush announced on Air Force One Thursday morning as he flew to Colombia for the U.S.-Latin drug summit. Slicing the air with his arms, Bush appeared both testy and teasing as he repeatedly refused to answer questions with anything more than "no comment."

"I think we have too many press conferences. It's not good. It's overexposure to the thing," Bush said after a night's sleep on the presidential jet. Asked if he had slept well, Bush replied, "I can't go into the details of that. Because someone will think it's too much sleep, someone will think it's too little."

The president and some of his top lieutenants, including Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, have been accused in recent weeks of misleading the public about administration decisions and policy.

Monday, for example, Bush was asked in a televised news conference if he thought the time was right for a four-power conference on the future of Germany. "No, not at this juncture," he replied. The next day, however, a deal was struck among the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union for a conference.

Earlier, Bush had made misleading statements about his plans for the Malta summit with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and he secretly dispatched two high-level advisers to China last July at a time when he had announced that "high-level exchanges" with China were terminated.

Asked Thursday about the communique he was to sign with the leaders of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, Bush answered, "I hate to be secretive, say nothing of deceptive. But I'm not going to tell you that."

Asked if he would discuss with the leaders the use of the U.S. military to interdict drug shipments, Bush said, "I'm not going to discuss what I'm gonna bring up."

Questioned as to whether he had any surprise proposals, he said, "I'm not gonna discuss whether there are any surprises or not. This is a new thing. A new approach. Even if I don't discuss it, I'm not going to discuss it."

Asked about a television report about a tacit deal by the Colombian government not to extradite drug traffickers, Bush responded, "I have no comment whatsoever on that."

"Did you know about it?"

"I have no comment on whether I knew about it."

"Is it true?"

"I can't comment on whether it's true or not."

"Did we turn you into this?"

"Yes," Bush said, explaining his irritation over the questions raised this week about his comment on a four-power meeting on Germany. "When I told you ... that I didn't think there would be a deal, and then they shortly made a deal, and I'm hit for deceiving you."

Bush said he didn't know of the deal because "things are moving fast." Then he told the reporters, "We got a whole new relationship."

Bush refused to say whether he and Gorbachev had agreed on the date of their June summit. Asked Thursday why he would not comment, he said, "Because I'm not gonna be burned for holding out or doing something deceptive."

Bush also refused to say whether Colombian President Virgilio Barco had telephoned him. "You heard the phone ring, I know," he said. "But I can't comment one way or another whether it was for me."

When a reporter jestingly concluded, "We've done something wrong," Bush responded, "No, I think maybe I have. But I'm trying to do better. Be more straightforward like I've been just now ... just a practice run."

Late Thursday afternoon, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater told reporters of the president's earlier remarks: "He was just kidding. He was having fun."